


Creatures of Your Own Mind

by EscapingArtist



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Ficlet, Medication, Mental Health Issues, Muggle/Wizard Relations, Potions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-28
Updated: 2017-07-28
Packaged: 2018-12-07 21:51:09
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 233
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11632632
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EscapingArtist/pseuds/EscapingArtist
Summary: When the creatures are in your own mind, the usual spells won't work





	Creatures of Your Own Mind

**Author's Note:**

> I'm continually fascinated by how mental illness might be treated in the wizarding world. Please forgive liberties with how/how quickly medication works.

Sometimes it helped to imagine the voices came from a grindylow. Its long fingers wrapped around her shoulder, whispering all of the bad thoughts into her ear. She could defeat a grindylow, she didn’t know if she could beat her own mind.

The bright orange bottles looked strange in her potions cupboard. Lined up next to the flasks of boomslang skin and lacewing flies the plastic seemed…clinical instead of magical. Which, she mused, was exactly what it was. 

Unscrewing the first lid she swallowed the little pill. “Reducio” she whispered. Imagining the grindylow, those obsessive thoughts, shrinking to a manageable size and crawling away.

The next cap clinked onto the counter. Behind her she could imagine a boggart flipping rapidly through her many anxieties, unable to settle on which was the worst. “Riddikulus” she said, with some conviction making the image pop and disappear. 

She took down the last bottle, and the icy wind rippled down her back. Moving quickly, before her fingers drained of strength, she pulled off the cap. With a quick motion she threw down the last pill “Expecto Patronum” she whimpered, with her head on the counter.

Then there was silence. The good kind. 

Straightening up and smoothing down her robes, she lined the bottles back up in the cupboard. “Until tomorrow” she thought. Every day a new battle, but she’d build up her arsenal and be ready.

**Author's Note:**

> Almost all of the things I write are "ficlets" I can't seem to spin out a full length story. If anything inspires you please let me know you'd be welcome to the ideas


End file.
